ABirdingNaturalist
@abirdingnaturalist
Welcome! I'm Aaron Haiman, a scientist who loves sharing birds and nature! Check out my YouTube channel! Black Lives Matter Birding is for Every Body
The state bird of California, the California Quail (Callipepla californica), is fairly common in dry areas such as sagebrush, chaparral, high desert, and foothill habitats. They are also really pretty birds! #birds #California #habitat
In the USA, blood is needed every 2 seconds! That's one of the reasons I donate, and this is donation No. 52. #blooddonor #vitalant #donatingbloodsaveslives
Join me at A Seat At The Table Books on August 13th for a fun nerdy and birdy nature trivia night! #nature #trivianight #elkgrove
Pale Swallowtails (Papilio eurymedon) are found across much of the western USA. Check out the puddling party that I filmed and shared on my YouTube channel! #butterfly #nature #photography
In case you missed my latest YouTube short, I'm posting it here as well because this is important! #environment #trump #endangeredspeciesact
The Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana) is a beautiful bird of the western forests and has been selected at the mascot for the 2026 Point Blue Conservation Science Bird-a-thon!!! #birds #nature #birdathon
Join me on Aug 13th at A Seat At The Table Books in Elk Gove, CA for a fun evening! #elkgrove #California #trivia #nature
I certainly don't agree with everything my country has done, but I do love the ideals this country was founded on and is still working to fulfill. So, from this patriot, here are birds red, white, and blue. Happy Independence Day and to America, happy 250th birthday! #independenceday #birds
This was a distant shot of a beautiful bird. This adult male Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) was foraging for insects in the lichen of this tree. #bird #nature #photography #California
I spent the weekend camping along the Silver Fork of the American River. It was spectacularly beautiful and so restorative. I really needed this time in nature. 🌲⛺️🌲 More photos and stories to come! #camping #California #AmericanRiver
All June, I have been sharing examples of the huge range of diversity in sexual strategies in the animal kingdom. That range dosen't even scratch the surface. This Common Sunburst Lichen is a combination of a fungus and algae each of which has its own sex life. 🏳️🌈🌈Happy Pride Month🌈🏳️🌈 #pride #nature
On very rare occasions, female Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) can grow antlers! So, while it is fairly safe to assume animals with antlers (like the 2nd photo) are male, you can't be 100% sure! 🏳️🌈🌈Happy Pride Month🌈🏳️🌈 #pridemonth #deer #nature
A couple of weeks ago, I posted about how male-male mating is quite common in damselflies. Well, this type of mating is also common in dragonflies! This is an Eight-spotted Skimmer (Libellula forensis) that I photographed along the Shasta River. 🏳️🌈🌈Happy Pride Month🌈🏳️🌈 #dragonfly #nature #science
My office yesterday! I spent some time exploring the Shasta River and a couple of it's tributaries in Siskiyou County. Nature is for everyone! 🏳️🌈🌈Happy Pride Month🌈🏳️🌈 #nature #scientistlife #California
This is a female Monarch (Danaus plexippus). Males of the species engage in same sex matings about 1/3 of the time! Bisexuality is natural! 🏳️🌈🌈Happy Pride Month🌈🏳️🌈 #butterfly #nature #science #photography
In 1977, researchers found that about 14% of the Western Gull (Larus occidentalis) pairs were female-female! This was one of the first cases of homosexuality in birds! 🏳️🌈🌈Happy Pride Month🌈🏳️🌈 #birds #nature #science #pridemonth
Giraffes (Giraffe cameleopard) are a pretty queer species. Something like 90% of mating interactions that the males engage in are with other males. Homosexuality is definitely a very natural phenomenon. 🌈🏳️🌈Happy Pride Month🏳️🌈🌈 #giraffe #nature #pridemonth
Acorn Woodpecker mating is something else! A group of males (often brothers) will join up with a group of females (often sisters) and form a family group where all the females mate with all the males. This is called cooperative polygynandry. 🏳️🌈🌈Happy Pride Month🌈🏳️🌈 #birds #nature #science #queer
Each Splitgill Fungus cell has 2 mating types (4 per cell when fused). Each mating type has many forms and they can all combine in all sorts of patterns which means that this species has over 23,000 different mating expressions! Sex is rarely a simple binary! 🏳️🌈🌈Happy Pride Month🌈🏳️🌈 #mushroom #nature
Double-crested Cormorants (Nannopterum auritus) almost have pride flag facepaint! Look at those colors! 🏳️🌈🌈Happy Pride Month🌈🏳️🌈 #bird #photography #nature #pridemonth
When damselflies like this male Vivid Dancer mate, males grasp females with their cloacal pincher. This leaves tell-tale marks on the females. Between 20% and 80% of male damselflies also have these marks so male-male mating is very common! 🏳️🌈🌈Happy Pride Month🌈🏳️🌈 #pridemonth #damselflies #nature
Trash is a major source of pollution! We can all do better. #trash #environment #nature
🌈🌈A rainbow of plant life🌈🌈 1. California Poppy 2. Tidy Tips 3. Menzies' Baby Blue Eyes 4. Winecup Clarkia 🏳️🌈🌈Happy Pride Month🌈🏳️🌈